Archive for October 23, 2007

I received my conversion kit for The Act today and I can hardly wait to spend some real time with the game. I hope to play it enough that I can write a review about it for tomorrow – if not then I will post my weekly review on Thursday (or ASAP). Either way the review this week will be about The Act. :)

I meant to have some pics of the unboxing but it arrived as I was going out the door for work and I had to take it out just to see if everything was working OK (which it was) but I will try and get some snapshots of the system later. It came with everything I would need to put it into any cabinet and while the chassis looks like it houses a standard PC motherboard, it has a JAMMA edge connector on it. The knob controller is much larger than I expected but it seems to control everything well and the artwork that came along with it is excellent. Here are some pics I managed to take later today after I unboxed it. I was able to play the game a bit – very intriguing, there’s nothing like it out there and it’s far more interesting than Dragon’s Lair or Space Ace. The only problem was I had no sound – I guess I’ll only get that once I put it into a cabinet (which is my next big task). By checking the BIOS I found that it comes with an Intel 3.06 Ghz Celeron processor, 512 MBs of RAM (DDR) and some options work without the JAMMA harness as long as you have a keyboard plugged into it.

After the post a few days ago about Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield, one of readers sent us this picture of Sega’s R-360 taken back in the nineties at Skylon Tower and whoever is playing it seems to be enjoying themselves too. For anyone not familiar with game check out this little run down via KLOV…..

R-360 is an air combat simulator where players ride in the cabinet that simulates the movements of a jet fighter and makes 360 degree rotations.

The cabinet has specially designed security features to assure rider and viewer safety. Included are an attendant station, a seat belt, shoulder restraints, a player-actuated emergency stop button, safety sensors, and a plexiglass security fence.
This unique cabinet is used to run enhanced versions of G-LOC or Strike Fighter (1991).

Back in the day when one of my local pubs had a Big Buck Hunter, myself and a bunch of friends would be down there at least twice a week to try and better our highscores on the leaderboard. Then after about 6 months of really investing ourselves into the game and leaderboard they took the machine away! I will never forgive them and will never go in that pub again. This may sound petty, but the pub just wasn’t the same afterwards.

To my point then……

One of my friends (above), who has been traveling around the world and is currently in Cairns in Australia, had the best day of his trip so far when he came across a Big Buck Hunt in a bar he just happened to walk into. Forget about the safaris in Africa, the sky dives, and the bungee jumps. This really made his day, but made him a little homesick too. Most of all though, he was wishing I was there so he could whip me on a round of buck hunt!

Editor’s note: John Gaudiosi, an internationally published reviewer and reporter about the video games industry, writes the Gaming Guru blog for WRAL.com.

LAS VEGAS – The old days of Mom and Pop arcades and mall arcades are long gone, done away by home consoles and online gameplay that has connected gamers around the world. Sega’s GameWorks, along with Dave & Busters, have sprouted up in their place.

These arcade/restaurant/bar entertainment centers are geared to family and friends. I was able to check out GameWorks in Las Vegas this past weekend. Sonic was there to greet everyone before they headed down the escalator to play games below the M&M World and Coca-Cola Stores on the Las Vegas Strip.

For those who have their kids along with them in Vegas (a town that’s definitely not very kid-friendly), GameWorks does provide a way to spend a day. It’s $35 for an all-day pass that will get unlimited rides and arcade games and even virtual bowling. You can also play by the hour. GameWorks has eliminated the need for quarters or tokens. A card slides through each machine and you have a running timer of how long it’s good for.

While Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii have brought gaming home, the one advantage these new arcades have over those consoles is in the motion rides. I played Sega’s Outrun 2 on my new Slim PSP on the flights over to Vegas. But playing the sit-down version of the game, linked with three other cars in a full motion simulator, blew away that experience.